


Obsolete

by polybi



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015), Twilight Zone
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Dystopia, Based on a Twilght Zone episode, Books are outlawed, F/F, LGBTQ is outlawed, The Obsolete Man
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-06
Updated: 2019-11-06
Packaged: 2020-08-10 19:54:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,882
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20141083
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/polybi/pseuds/polybi
Summary: Alex and Astra are both librarians. They love books, They are Lesbians. They are in a relationship.For this, they must die tonight.Based on the Twilight Zone episode, The Obsolete Man.





	1. Before

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AXEe](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AXEe/gifts).

> What happens when you cross General Danvers with one of greatest wordsmiths of the 20th century? You get what I hope is a good take on one of the better installments of the original Twilight Zone. If you are familiar with The Obsolete Man (written by Rod Serling, owned by Serling and CBS, as well as Astra, Alex, and Non belonging to the CW/WB/DC, I’m doing this for fun, not profit), both Alex and Astra will take the Burgess Meredith role, while Lieutenant Non will have the Fritz Weaver role.
> 
> Your comments will be most welcome. And I am going to try to do this in one take.
> 
> Enjoy.

** _The Apartment of Alexandra Danvers and her “wife”* Astra Inzeli-Danvers._ **

_ (*In quotes because in 2214, laws allowing for marriages between those of the same gender were made illegal in 2023.) _

They were both the same when it came to many things, One was to make their little hovel as inviting to guests. And there was a very important guest coming tonight.

Preparations were made earlier in the day for this. The mechanics and the engineers had long left the day before. The furniture was pretty much 20th Century thrift store. The pair always made sure that there was no dust. There was a TV, of course, a few paintings,the standard food generators. The bathroom was fairly clean but a bit disheveled. For this night, a perfectly clean lavatory was not needed.

Astra and her partner Alex stood and took a final sweep of their one-room apartment. In addition to the aforementioned, and the large, rather dingy throw rug on the floor were books. The walls were lined with books. Everything from Sheakespere to Mark Twain to Heinlien. There was Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, e.e. Cummings. There was a copy of the Tipitaka, two versions of the Quran, and five separate versions of the Christian Bible. Almost a thousand books lined the walls of the apartment, each one lovingly rescued from a state-sponsored fire. Almost all reading material was banned by the State almost 100 years ago, save for anything that was online and approved by the state.

And it is because of those books that tonight is the final night that Alex and Astra will be allowed to live.

For 24 hours ago they stood in front of Chancellor Nonson in the ironically named Chamber of Justice. Alex and Astra were librarians. But since there were no books, librarians we're not needed. They had become obsolete. And obsolescence what's the one thing that was frowned on in this society. So much that it was considered a capital crime to be that.

Now both were in the military. Astrs was a general and Alex was a Sergeant First class. If they had stayed in the military they would have been termed useful. But Alex and Astra came to the conclusion that killing people serve no purpose. As they stood in front of the chancellor, the two still felt that maybe you should be the other way around. That taking wife should be the thing that was obsolete. But as they stood in front of the tall, admittedly handsome man, wearing a face void of passion or compassion oh, they knew that arguing that point would be moot.

And so the chancellor deemed the pair obsolete. obsolete because they believed in the printed word, absolutely because they loved each other but they were up the same gender, absolutely because since that was the case they could not reproduce. They were obsolete.

And because of that oh, they were to die. They were to die in 24 hours.

But this was a compassionate society, at least that's what they keep telling themselves. And as a compassionate society, they gave Alex and Astra the option of how they were going to die. There were many choices. They would be allowed to die together. They could take poison, cut their wrists. They could be hung or shot or beheaded. The ways they could engineer their State ordered demise we're myriad.

They were given a couple of minutes, and then Astra spoke to the chancellor: "we do wish to die together. However my Brave One and I have decided that we want to appoint an assassin. Someone who would be duty bound to carry out our wishes. An assassin of your choosing who will execute our chosen manner of death precisely as we describe..."

"And one other thing," added Alex, "we wish for death to be televised."

The Chancellor's ears perk up at the suggestion. "So, you want an audience!" Chancellor Nomson's eyes became wide as saucers and his eyebrows were raised."What a splendid idea!! An excellent way to show the power of the state! A way to show people that no man or woman is greater or more powerful than the state! So be it!"

And it was decided that within the afternoon, Alex and Astra would meet with their assassin, who would be given his instructions by the letter. And that a technical team would go to the apartment of the pear and install cameras and broadcast equipment. Alex and Astra were sent on their way, with only one thing added 2 what would happen the next evening.. the chancellor himself we come by the apartment, just to make sure that everything was alright.

And so the women waited. The chancellor was never known to be late for an appointment. And to facilitate what was about to happen, he would have to arrive on time at 8 p.m.

Theer was a knock at the door. It was opened. The chancellor did not disappoint. "Greetings ladies. May I come in.' Alex and Astra were very cordial as they invited the chancellor into their apartment.

**TBC**


	2. During, Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Chancellor...the one who sentence Alex and Astra to death...visits them in the women's last hour
> 
> He is in for a shocking surprise.

The smugness of Chancellor Nonson practically rolled off his body as he walked into small apartment. He was a striking man, some may even call him handsome oh, if it was not for the fact that she held literally millions of wives in his hands. Two of those lives just welcomed him into their small abode

'Ms. Danvers. Ms. Inzeli. I must admit this is highly unusual. Receiving some cryptic message that you wanted me to come by and share part of your final moments on Earth...

"We hold no malice toward you, Chancellor" said Astra.

"And," added Alex,"considering that will be departing this Vale of tears within the hour, anger would serve no purpose.'

The Chancellor, though, what's not totally without suspicion. "I still wonder, though, exactly why you brought me over here. Maybe it is to administer some final bit of deadly revenge on me. After all I am the person responsible for your upcoming deaths. The "if I go I'll take you with me" gambit?"

Astra replied with a smirk, "Why Chancellor, with an entire nation watching...live and in living color?' Astra pointed to the television camera and lights that were installed earlier in the day

"You know what was amazing? They installed all of this in 15 minutes.they installed the transmitting satellite dish in another 45.” added Alex. “They certainly out did the cable company.”

The Chancellor's suspicions continue to run high but he decided to play it cool. “I must say that you are taking this very well,ladies. I would have expected crying and gnashing of teeth. As a matter of fact...as I see the camera is already transmitting...if you are holding back emotions, you have my permission to let go...express anger, fears and sorrows. You are free to let go. I’ve heard that Chancellor Luthor occasionally takes pity on some cases. Not often,though...”

There was a tinge of acidity in Astra’s response: “Crying,weeping, the ‘gnashing of teeth,’ as you say, is reserved for those who fear their fate. We know what’s ahead for us, Alexandra and I. We have known the eventuality of this moment for some time. You might say we planned for it.”

“I do have to ask, though,” inquired Alex, “what led you to come here this evening? We  _ did _ invite you, but you did  _ have _ to come.”

It was at that moment the small light signalling that the cameras were transmitting flicked on, sending the picture of the two women and the Chancellor to the population of the State.

The show had begun

Bravado overflowed from Chancellor Nonson as he replied, now facing one of the three cameras attached to three walls of the main room of the apartment. “The main reason that I came is the show that the State has no fear.” Saliva started to drip from the Chancellor’s lips as his gestures became ever more grander. “Now you are projecting the veneer of false courage..but as the hour grows closer to your demise, and you are alone with your... _ assassin _ ...you will be pleading for your lives to be spared. By the way,when will your assassin arrive, if Imay ask.

“She came, she left,” Alex deadpanned..” Her name was Mercy, by the way. The irony...”

The look on the Chancellor's face was one of confusion. Even more so seeing the face of Astra. “And what do you find so  _ amusing _ , Ms. Inzeli?

“Just the fact,” Astra replied, “that you feel that you need to show these fine people that the mighty State has now fear of two obsolete girls that you have condemned to die in front of 400 million viewers. That has all the makings of a joke, and a bad one at that.” Then Astra’s features became more intense. “You know what I think, Chancellor? The reason why you  _ actually _ came tonight? It’s that myself and my lovely wife...yes, Chancellor,  ** _wife_ ** ...we don’t fit. We didn’t cower, or grovel. When you sat there in that high bench hurling invective after homophobic invective at my brave one and myself, we stood there, hand in hand.”   


Now Astra was seething at the high official. ”And then, when you sentenced us to our demise, we stood there with hand in hand. Unafraid. We don’t fit, you see. The State is the strength, people like myself and Alexandra are supposed to be the weakness. But we have a strength that you cannot even fathom. It is a strength that we will hold to our final moment..”

The Chancellor continued to play for the cameras surrounding him.”Well, we’ll see about that strength,because in just a few moments you will be like all the rest, groveling and pleading as those last moments slip away....”

Alex interrupted the great man. “You motherfucker. You never learn do you.You never learn from history!”

“On the contrary, Ms. Danvers, we learned a lot from our predecessors...”

“Like Hitler?”

“Yes, Ms. Danvers Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Putin, Farage. They all had the right idea, keep the strong and eliminate the weak, the misfit. The problem, Ms. Danvers, is that they did not go far enough. The old,for instance, cling to the past and won’t accept what’s next. The infirmed, the unnecessary...”

“The librarians..?” said Astra.

“Yes, Ms. Inzeli, the librarians...and all others flotsam and jetsam. They form resistance. They cry out for “freedom,”...and other antiquated ideas. Those were swept out with the new regime. Weakness, like that Marsdin bitch we ran off...swept away!” Nonson stooped his screed to catch his breath before continuing in a much calmer tone: “So...ladies...it has been...nice...but Ihave a previous engagement,so if you excuse me...

The Chancellor prepared to leave when Astra told him to wait, He turned and faced the women. He told them to make it brief.

“I don’t think we've been totally honest with you,” said Astra. “You see after they set up the equipment,they hid, in a place we cannot find mind you, a small explosive device.”

Alex added: “Mercy told us that it would only blow up this room and everything and every...one...inside.”

All things considered, the prospect of being blown to bits was not filling Nonson with anything close to positive feelings. “How interesting...quick..relatively painless. Well I wish you good luck as you head towards your nirvana. I myself do have a previous engagement so if you’ll excuse me...”

The Chancellor then turned and headed to the door. A door that was locked.

“Can you unlock the door?”

Astra Inzeli, with her hand locked in her wife Alexandra Danvers hand, seated in their cloth loveseat, looked at the Chancellor fumbling with the locked door.

“No.”

**TBC **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. I’d love to know how you feel about this story. Two more chapters and this is will be done, thenI’ll get to a couple of stories that have become endless. Thank you AXEe for receiving this gift so well. The story does have a lot to say about the world as it is, especially what Rod Serling said in the end of the teleplay: “Any state, any entity, any ideology that fails to recognize the worth, the dignity, the rights of man, that state is obsolete.” I write this praying that Serling is right.
> 
> But, there is a twist in MY story that Mr. Serling did not anticipate. You may have already seen it. It might be revealed in the next chapter.
> 
> Then again, maybe not.
> 
> Likes and kudos are fine. But comments...real thought out comments, feed the soul.


	3. During, Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The clock is ticking....

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next to the last chapter. I hope you like it. There is no way that I can match the genius of Rod Serling, but this is one of my favorite Twilight Zone stories... And it says so much as I said earlier about where we are today. The tyranny never works. It is always defeated. It's a reminder that we should never go down willingly or unwillingly. now if you want to insert this story or the original one into what is happening today I'm not going to stop you. I just thought that I could insert these characters into that world.
> 
> And yes, there was a twist to this. One that Mr. Serling could never imagine. As a matter of fact, I don't think that there are many #GeneralDanvers shippers who would see it coming.
> 
> A reminder that the Twilight Zone television series and the episode The Obsolete Man were created by Mr. Serling, and are the property of CBS. The characters Astra, Alex Danvers, and Non our property of Warner Brothers, DC Entertainment, and the CW television network. This story was written for fun and no copyright claims are being made.
> 
> One last thing: thanks to AXEe for the comments through this. this was a gift based on our mutual love for Alex and Astra, not to mention that this story it's both favorites of ours. I'd love to hear your comments. Not just kudos and likes, but actual comments. It would make me very happy.
> 
> And now, without further ado...

** _Previously..._ **

_ “You see after they set up the equipment, they hid, in a place, we cannot find mind you, a small explosive device.” _

_ Alex added: “Mercy told us that it would only blow up this room and everything and every...one...inside.” _

_ All things considered, the prospect of being blown to bits was not filling Nonson with anything close to positive feelings. “How interesting...quick..relatively painless. Well, I wish you good luck as you head towards your nirvana. I do have a previous engagement so if you’ll excuse me...” _

_ The Chancellor then turned and headed to the door. A door that was locked. _

_ “Can you unlock the door?” _

_ Astra Inzeli, with her hand locked in her wife Alexandra Danvers’ hand, seated in their cloth loveseat, looked at the Chancellor fumbling with the locked door. _

_ “No...” _

  
  


“Let me out! Someone, please let me out...!!”

Chancellor Nonson’s pleas (not to mention door-banging) when unheard...the area was totally evacuated. That was the proper procedure, isolate the one being executed so that there would be no escape and no innocent bystanders.

“You seem nervous, Chancellor...anything wrong, sir?” Alex Danvers could not help the bit of sarcasm, and her wife, Astra Inzeli, could not help the smirk as she looked upon the scene of the courageous Chancellor trying to get the door open for fear of being blown to smithereens along with herself and her wife.

Chancellor Nonson turns to the pair with a nervous chuckle: "So that's the game. Put the shoe on the other foot. What's the representative of the State do a little hand-wringing, let him show fear and panic. Well, ladies, it's not going to work.." The Chancellor trying to convince himself of whatever courage that he had, as well as trying to convince himself that somehow, someway he can get out of there before whatever bomb that was said goes off.

"Why Chancellor! said, Astra. "You're cheating the audience! Step into the light! Faces of cameras! Show the people the courage.. the resilience... The bravery...of the State!" That last word was brimming with acid.

"You too may think you have the last laugh, but I assure you your final joke is going to fall flat. They're not going to allow me to blow up with you obsolete women..."

"Chancellor, please clarify the term 'they...'" the sarcasm was flowing through Alex's words. *Oh, you mean the State? Oh, I think that this is going to be great entertainment for the books back at the office. I think they'll sit on their hands and watch the show."

Astra, again: "And so, sir, since the three of us have our own Nirvana approaching in about..." Astra looked at the clock on the wall. "... 25 minutes... I think you should sit down and relax. Maybe have a chat between ourselves... And the Great Equalizer. For you see, even though you outlawed any faith at all except for that in the State, my Brave One and I believe there is a life after this..."

it was then that Astra got up approach the safe turned the tumblers, opened it, and removed an old book, whip its hardcover still in good condition after what could be termed years and years of wear. The gold lettering on the front cover simply said "Holy Bible NIV."

"What is ironic is that under your law, simple possession of this book could be punishable by... death. But I guess that does not matter at this point. So for us, we will read passages from this book until the end. How will _ you _ spend these last moments, Chancellor?"

"We will see, Ms. Inzeli... we...will...see." a smirk ran across the Chancellor's face as he continued to believe that somehow, someway he'll get out of this. Besides, he must show the people with the State is resilient. That the State can face any adversity. Because to show even a little fear could cause the people to revolt. And that was not going to happen on his watch. 

And so the Chancellor's sat down. He looked into the cameras with a determined face. Astra began to read as Alex's arm enveloped hers. "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want..."

It was 8:42.

By 8:46, Alex and Astra where are alternating Bible verses...observations on death and salvation. The chancellor started to look a little nervous at all this. Cameras continued to roll.

8:51.

The chancellor now was nervously trying to light a cigarette as the two women continue to read.

8:55

8.56

8:57

By 8:58, he could not take any more. "LET ME OUT...IN THE NAME OF GOD, LET ME OUT!!!!"

The women stopped reading and got up. Alex grabs the keys to the door that were hidden under the seat of her chair. The three rushed to the door. "In the name of God..." said Astra, "we  _ will _ let you out." The Chancellor grabbed the keys, unlocked the door, I ran out of the room down the stairs into the street. How do you look back, he would have seen the two women standing in the middle of the room, next to the book-filled case, lovingly looking at each other, the others place being the last thing they would see before it was over.

But Chancellor Nonson would not see that. He was too busy trying to find the door outside. Once out you got to the middle of the street just in time to hear and see the blast from the women's window.

The chancellor picked himself up at walked away. It was over.

The next thing Astra saw was white. Then slowly forms in other colors began to take shape. In a few moments, she realized that he was looking at a room. It was filled with wood and classic furnishings he looked around and she saw the bed that she was in. There were various sheets, blankets, and a quilt, turn to her right, and there, weighing almost on her arm was her Brave One.

They had made it. And they made it together. What where was this? If they are dead, what is this place? Is this Nirvana?

Just spend a face peered over Astra's. she could not make the face out first, even though her face came closer and planted a kiss on her forehead. Space then became clearer: it was a woman. Matronly. One could even say attractive. And then as a face achieve crystal clarity, Astra recognized the woman. Only then did she know full well that wherever she and Alex were, it was  _ not _ Nirvana.

"Hello Astra," the woman said with a smile. "And how are we?"

" _ We  _ are doing just fine, Chancellor Luthor. Just fine.."

**One more chapter.**


	4. The Final  Chapter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The final chapter. The morning after the night before. And the twist...

_ The Chancellor had left the apartment. An hour ago he was full of himself. An hour later he could not get out the door and down the steps fast enough. What remained was Alexandra Danvers standing and clinging to her wife. They kissed. Alex wanted that kiss to be the last thing she felt alive. _

_ And indeed, the explosion happened just milliseconds after their lips melded. It was that searing kiss that was the last thing Alex felt before the world went black. _

The next thing Alex saw was an entire world colored pinkish-beige. It was a world that seemed to slowly pulsate in front of her. It was a vision unexpected yet amazingly familiar. So familiar that Alex’s heart began to race in anticipation, even though she knew that she was probably dead and what she was thinking could not possibly be.

She *efforted to move her head closer to the colored wall and when her nose touched it...skin.

No! Sweet Jesus of Nazareth could not be! Then the pinkish-beige mass turned over.

That face.

Her wife’s face

Astra. Alive as she could be. Not a mark or trace of explosion.

Alex kissed the lips of her wife. Madly. Hungrily. Astra returned the kiss with the same fervor. As she kissed Astra, Alex began to weep softly. This was Eternity, and whether this was Nirvana or Perdition, Astra would be there for her. And as the kisses continued with Alex’s tears streaming down both their faces, Alex knew this was Nirvana....

That was until she looked and saw the mass of brown hair adoring a sickeningly sweet smile: “Well, Mrs. Inzeli-Danvers...welcome to the land of the living.”

“Lillian Luthor...” Alex replied with the type of monotone reserved for ex-mothers-in-law.

Or in this case, Vice-Chancellors.

“Now, now, Alexandra, is that the way to address the woman who helped save your lives...” Alex now knew officially that this was either Perdition or...

“...not to mention the  _ new _ Acting Chancellor.”

All things considered, the anticipation that both Alex and Astra were feeling was,to say the least, contradictory. It’s not that they hated Lillian...after all, she is the mother-in-law of Astra’s niece and would be a hell of a lot better than...

Alex piped up: “ _ Acting  _ Chancellor? What about Nonson...?”

Astra added: “Does that mean...?” Her eyes seemed to light up at that...

“I knew you’d ask that.” the new AC then reached for the remote and pointed it to the big screen on the wall. The image was a TV news set with many monitors and an attractive mature woman facing the camera...

_ “This is Zoe Clark reporting, breaking in with this special report. The fallout from last night’s attempted execution of obsolenants Alexandra Danvers and Astra Inzeli. The two were found under a bookshelf that seemed to protect them from the explosion that the pair requested for their execution. Under the law, anyone who survives an execution attempt cannot be forced to go through a second attempt. The charges were automatically dropped and Danvers and Inzelli are free to live their lives, though they are in a doctor’s care in a discreet location...” _

Alex and Astra grinned and smirked at that part of the report...

The newsreader continued.  _ “But the biggest fallout came this morning. Here is what happened last night when Chancellor Nonson came to the pair’s apartment...” _ They then ran footage of Nonson’s rather cowardly performance after being told of the impending fireworks, all the way to the point where Nonson ran like the wind out of the apartment and into the street. 

_ "According to reports, Nonson was confronted by officials about the incident and was immediately declared obsolete because his actions and behavior were a major embarrassment to the State. Lillian Luthor was immediately appointed Acting Chancellor until a permanent replacement is found. Meanwhile, massive protests State Headquarters calling for an overthrow of the government..."  _ Lillian switched off the screen, then turned her gaze towards Alex and Astra.

Three women gazed blankly at each other. And then Astra produce what are the widest rims either woman had seen in a long time

"It worked!" Excitement rising within the woman."The plan worked!!" And with that, Astra hugs a now equally excited Alex. The two hugged and kissed for a long time then they turned towards Lillian and started to hug and kiss her cheeks excitedly. Lillian simply smiled, that smug look she was famous for crossed her face. “Now what was that about ‘this cockamamie plan was doomed to fail?’”

Alex rolled her eyes. “OK, I’ll admit it worked according to plan...”

Astra added, “And what a plan...!”

Alex: “Yeah, but how did you know it would turn out exactly as it did.?”

There was that smug look on Lillian’s face. “Remember, I was his lover for five years. I know Nonson’s every quirk. All we had to do was make sure the man was embarrassed sufficiently.”

Astra and Alex smirked simultaneously at that. Like most evil men, the now-ex-Chancellor Achilles Heel was his pride.

“By the way,” added Alex, “that was some slick engineering work by Winn, making sure that dummy bookshelf fell right on the spot we were standing on...”

Astra added: “that shelf shielded us from the blast.”

Lillian added, “I’ll let him know. He built that shelf, especially for that purpose. But don’t forget to thank Mercy and Otto. They engineered the blast to be just powerful enough to make Nonson shit in his pants!”

“So, Madam Chancellor,” Asked Astra with a touch of sarcasm, “what happens now?”

“Well, you know what happens now...which reminds me...” Lillian turns her head towards the hallway to yell out. “You ready???”

“HOLD YOUR HORSES, WOMAN!!” replied the disembodied voice. Suddenly an attractive, statuesque woman, slightly older-looking than the fiftysomething Lillian enters the room, brushing her jet-black shoulder-length tresses, all dimples and smiles, walking up to Lillian and giving the dark blonde woman a quick but full kiss on the mouth. “The woman is incorrigible!” 

“And you, Olivia Marsdin, are terminally horny,” was Lillian’s reply, just before she returned that smooch with one of her own.

Then with her arms around her tall and und godly beautiful companion, Lillian answers Astra’s previous question: “I am about to perform Chancellor Lillian Luthor’s final official act, being dissolving the current model, and turning the reigns to the new  _ President pro-tembre _ , Olivia Mardin”

“Who will,” continued Olivia, “immediately replace this dictatorship to an elected form of government...like the one we had before I was ousted. We’ll set the date six months from today. And the first order of business would be to lift that ban on things like books, printed material, learning, and worship. Which means if one wants to, they can openly state they believe in a Creator...”

Olivia leaned into the two women sitting upright in the bed, and in an almost-whisper...a loving one...told them “Not to mention that a person can love and marry anyone he or she chooses. That would be  _ you _ . “

Astra’s lower lip trembled. Alex was more demonstrative breaking into tears. There was a lot of doubt when this quartet sat at a coffee shop five years ago and slowly talked about this audacious idea: two librarians, an ousted President and a Vice-Chancellor supposedly weeded to the Regime thinking of a peaceful overthrow. But now, without one drop of blood shed, a decade of enslavement was about to end. Alex and Astra hugged and kissed the two women, then kissed each other deeply.

And after the goodbyes and promises that they could see everything on the telescreens two hours later, the soon-to-be President and ex-Chancellor departed the room, and then the mansion that was Lillian’s and now would be Lillian and Olivia’s The younger pair sunk into the sheets and for the longest time looked at each other. No words were said or needed to be said. And then, they made love.

* * *

A year later the new country, renamed Columbia after the mythical woman who represented freedom, was no-longer a dark, cold place, but was a pace of vitality, experiencing a renaissance unlike any the world or even the universe had ever seen the likes of. In almost every sector imaginations were blooming. Business was exploding. The arts were moving into places never before seen. The appetite for information and education was insatiable, like a starving human who walked into an endless feasting table and they could consume all of it.

The divisions that created the Regime in the first place were, for the most part, dissolving, especially amongst the young. Loving and brotherhood were breaking out, an epidemic of happiness and joy.

Their leaders, led by President and First Lady Marsdin-Luthor, were true to the sense of that word, a rarity before dictatorship. And when they were not leading with a steady hand, they partied hard. State dinners were legendary for their looseness. And Olivia and Lillian were not afraid or ashamed to show their deep affection for each other demonstrably in public, setting a romantic and one could say sexual example that almost all followed.

And as for Astra and Alex Danvers-Inzeli (yes, they got married properly after what is now celebrated as Liberty Day) went back to quiet lives, or as quiet as one could get as heads of the National Library System. Yes, the pair were in charge of reacquiring books and other materials that were thought lost after the Great Book Burning at the beginning of the dictatorship.

But to be honest, the pair were the happiest just being librarians, so for a few days in the week that is what they did at a modern library set at the heart of the Capitol. They had help, of course they had help. Astra’s niece (and Alex’s stepsister) Kara became temporary librarian as she split her time with that, assisting the new Minister of Communications Cat Grant, and the two loves of her life, James (who headed the national radio and TV network) and Lena (Lillian’s stepdaughter).

And on certain days, Alex and Astra would take the tram to the city’s pristine coastline, walk the beach, sit down, and caressed each other as the western sun set into the ocean. Amazing that a year ago, the head of a restrictive regime called the two of them obsolete because they wanted to learn, to expand their minds, and loved the way they wanted to love. Now, as the sun turned a bright orange on its last glimpse of the day, the two women kissed softy, knowing that they were anything but obsolete.

**THE END**

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Final thoughts...
> 
> First off, who came with this word *efforting and its variations? Dumbest set of words ever...)
> 
> So, I finally finished one! Thanks to the great Rod Serling for the inspiration for the first chapters. Thanks to AXEe for the encouragement, and thanks to you for your support. I’ll get to my other works in progress when I can. And now that I have a MacBook Pro I might be able to do that.
> 
> Forgive my mistakes...I have no beta. And your COMMENTS are welcome and asked for.
> 
> Excelsior, y’all!


End file.
